Android Beam is a discontinued feature of the Android mobile operating system that allowed data to be transferred via

near field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be used for the boots ...

(NFC). It allowed the rapid short-range exchange of web bookmarks, contact info, directions, YouTube videos, and other data. Android Beam was introduced in 2011 with

Android Ice Cream Sandwich Android Ice Cream Sandwich (or Android 4.0) is the fourth major version of the Android mobile operating system developed by Google. Unveiled on October 19, 2011, Android 4.0 built upon the significant changes made by the tablet-only release And ...

. This was improved after Google acquired

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. By 2017,

ComputerWorld ''Computerworld'' (abbreviated as CW) is a computer magazine published since 1967 aimed at information technology (IT) and Business computing, business technology professionals. Original a print magazine, ''Computerworld'' published its final pr ...

included Android Beam in a list of "once-trumpeted features that quietly faded away", observing that "despite the admirable marketing effort, Beam never quite worked particularly well, and numerous other systems for sharing stuff proved to be simpler and more reliable." Android Beam was

deprecated Deprecation is the discouragement of use of something human-made, such as a term, feature, design, or practice. Typically something is deprecated because it is claimed to be inferior compared to other options available. Something may be deprec ...

starting with

Android 10 Android 10 (code name, codenamed Android Q during development) is the Android version history, tenth major release and the 17th version of the Android (operating system), Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer pre ...

in January 2019, and was removed completely in

Android 14 Android 14 is the Android version history, fourteenth major release and the 21st version of Android (operating system), Android, the mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Both the Google & Paranoid Android ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

replaced Android Beam with the introduction of Nearby Share, which is an

AirDrop An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible tr ...

competitor by Google.

Description

Usage

Android Beam is activated by placing devices back to back with the content to be shared displayed on the screen. If the content is able to be sent, the screen will shrink down and display "Tap to Beam" at the top. Tapping the screen sends the content from one device to the other. A sound will play when devices are near and able to beam. When the data has been sent, a confirmation tone will play or a negative tone will play if failed and the content will shrink off the screen indicating beaming is complete. Sharing is one direction and the device sending content will not get content from the receiving device.

Requirements

To activate Android Beam, both devices must support NFC (Near field communication) and have it enabled in addition to passing the lock-screen or logging in.

4.1 Jelly Bean update

As of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, devices can use Android Beam to send photos and videos over Bluetooth. Android Beam uses NFC to enable Bluetooth on both devices, instantly pair them, and disable Bluetooth once complete automatically on both devices. This only works between Android devices version 4.1 and above.

Application support

For beaming of specific content, an app is allowed to control the content being sent when adding Android Beam support. If the app does not specify data, beaming the app will open it on the receiving device. If the receiving device does not have the app, it will open the application page in the

Play Store Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...

S Beam

S Beam refers to an extension of Android Beam by

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

, first used on their Galaxy S III phones. It uses the near-field communication to establish a

Wi-Fi Direct Wi-Fi Direct is a Wi-Fi standard for wireless connections that allows two devices to establish a direct Wi-Fi connection without an intermediary wireless access point, Router (computing), router, or Internet connection. Wi-Fi Direct is single-hop ...

connection between two devices for the data transfer, instead of a Bluetooth connection. This results in faster transfer speeds between devices which feature S Beam. S Beam is limited to select Samsung devices with S Beam support, such as the Samsung Galaxy S III and

Samsung Galaxy S4 The Samsung Galaxy S4 is an Android smartphone produced by Samsung Electronics as the fourth smartphone of the Samsung Galaxy S series and was first shown publicly on March 14, 2013, at Samsung Mobile Unpacked in New York City. It is the succes ...

References

{{Google LLC Android (operating system)